Legend of the Red Reaper
is my baby. Itís about a female sword fighter who
sacrifices true love to save the world from Demons.

As far as I know, Legend of the Red Reaper
was a bit of a
dream project of yours, and it's based on your own concept. Could you
elaborate on that concept and its evolution?

Sure
J!
It all started when I was working at the Renaissance Festivals as a
performer. I had this idea for a female swordfighter that was only part
human. In Renaissance times the character was over a thousand years old,
and served as a protector of good, and a scourge to evil. The movie,
Legend of the Red Reaper, is the backstory of the character and how she
went from being Aella to The Red Reaper.

Legend of the Red Reaper

You also have your hands in production of Legend of the Red Reaper. Could you talk about your role a producer for a bit?

As
a producer, as well creator, I became responsible for the overall look of
the film. I either brought in, or approved every piece of wardrobe that
shows up on camera, as well as the weaponry. Because the film takes place
in a fantasy time period I wanted to stay away from both wardrobe and
weapons that were indicative of a specific time, like Elizabethean collars
or Italian swept hilt rapiers. My swords in particular were designed by
me, and hand crafted by my amazing sword master. Instead of a cross hilt,
which is what everyone else in the story has, mine has three prongs, and
(chain)maile interwoven between the prongs. Itís heavy, but completely
original. In the story the swords are given to Aella by her father Adonis,
the leader of the Reapers, and swords have their own little story line.

I
also did a fair amount of casting. I looked through literally tens of
thousands of headshots and resumes to narrow it down to hundreds of people
to read for 2 dozen roles. And then there were casting locations to book,
scheduling, sides to prepare Ė and I read with hundreds of people when
the casting assistants forgot to bring actors in pairs J.

Legend of the Red Reaper

Iíve
also re-written the script. Iím currently on the 5th draft of
the 16th version of the new outline. For reasons it would be
impolite to get into publically, the original version of the script became
impractical to execute. But the fat has been trimmed, so
to speak, and the people left on board for round two are exactly the
people I wanted to work with in the beginning. The cream has definitely
risen to the top and Iím SOOO excited about going back into additional
shooting. As Adonis says in the trailer ďItís been a long road, and
there are many who are not with us today.Ē

(Trailer
is on youtube if you havenít seen it yet!).

As far as I know, you've also produced the
film Haunted. A few words about that one?

I
wouldnít use the word ďproducedĒ as a past tense! Iím still very
much in the process of producing it. Haunted is based on the true story of
a young girl who was abused by her grandmother. Grandma is dead, and
things get worse.

Weíre
still in the early stages of development. The script is in re-writes. We
do have some interest from what they call A list celebrities to play the
Grandmother. A lot of women are interested in shedding light on the
aftermath of childhood sexual abuse. The film explores the differences
between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and being genuinely haunted.
Youíll have to stand by to see which it is. And because itís a true
story... I canít tell you how it ends! J

Some of your
other upcoming films just seem to have wonderful titles, so I just have to
ask you to talk about them. Please say a few words about Ding Dong Dead?

A
girl gang of Ding Dong Ditchers harass the WRONG guy. I play one of the
girls in the group. Iím the one in the black catsuit wrestling. We shot
it in two days, and it was written, produced, and directed by the one and
only Creep Creepersin[Creep
Creepersin interview - click here].

And then there's of course Bloody
27 ...

I
have a fun cameo in Bloody 27. My character has a cool twist to it J.
But.. since weíre still shooting, and I signed a non disclosure... I
canít say too much about it. Sorry!

Itís
self produced (and by self I mean me AND Devanny, who now spend so much
time together weíre actually the same person. I think Iím even
beginning to look like her). Sometimes we just grab the camera and shoot,
and other times we actually schedule things with a real crew. We have the
in studio segments, and the on location segments. Most recently we
reviewed New Moon from the movie theaterís bathroom, and interviewed
fans after they flushed.

Not
released yet my friends. Iím told itís going to be a double feature.
Look for it 2010.

Terminal Descent is one of my favorite films. Red Scream Films flew me up to NY, we shot it
in 3 days, and I got to go on with my life. (As a producer youíre
married to a film for upwards of 10 years Ė 3 days is a vacation!). I
got to do some knife fighting, worked with the amazing Sean Michael Argo
as stunt coordinator, and I was in top condition for the film. I was 11%
body fat when we shot that. I kick mutant ass. And there were plenty of
mutant ass to kick. David Williams [David
R. Williams interview - click here] directed, and heís a blood hound in
human form. He had make up dump a full pint of blood on me for one of my
more spectacular kill shots (with a hammer).

Leaving the present behind
for the moment: How did you get started in acting?

I
was discovered in a mall.

You also did
quite a bit of stagework. How does acting on stage compare to acting in
front of the camera?

Iím
going to get flack for this, but Iíll lay it all out there. Stage work
is 1,000 times easier than film work. Stage is like the crack cocaine of
acting. You prep to death, you show up, youíre on stage for 2 hours, you
get instant and immediate gratification. You never have to talk to a stand
in, your scenes are never cut in mid sentence because the idiot DP
doesnít understand that sound can be edited in post you actually have
time and are encouraged to become familiar with the set AND your co-stars.
Itís like playing dress up with friends and all the kids come to watch
and think youíre brilliant. I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing stage work, and would
do it all the time if I could. The only down side is the 2-3 months of
rehearsal that usually goes into it. My last play (Strip) was rehearsed 3
nights a week for 3 months.

Film
on the other hand takes a LOT more work as an actor. I donít care who
you are, you have to be responsible for your own continuity in terms of
both the physicality and the arc of the character. I have performed scenes
by myself (other actor was on break) and I had to create the relationship
in my head. Iíve been given some of the worst direction of all time and
had to try to make it look natural. But I love it. And I wouldnít trade
it for anything.

Is it true you have written some of the plays you
were in yourself?

Oh
My God where are you getting this from??? How do you even know that?

Yes,
itís true. I have written a few plays here and there. Between 12-16 I
wrote prolifically. Poems, plays, I even wrote a novel. I moved out on my
own when I was 16. I worked 3 jobs to make ends meet and help out with
some family stuff back home in Canada. I told everyone that I was taking
an early retirement and I went through a period where I refused to write
at all. Even when we were working on
Legend of the Red Reaper
the first time around. My
partner and I fleshed out the outline, and gave it to a real writer (who
turned it into a comedy Ė which was hysterical, but ultimately not the
kind of film that
Legend of the Red Reaper
needed to be). So it was given to another
writer who wrote lesbian romance novels (and thus it became a romance
novel in script format), which was beautiful, but ultimately not the right
genre for my story. And then my partner took over and rewrote the script
so it would star some actor that no oneís ever heard of Ė which was
somehow even funnier, and more romantic than the first two versions! And
thus I was forced to come out of writing retirement and hammer out
something that passes for a script.

So
there you have it. Iím actually going BACK into re-writes today, because
one of my lead characters became unavailable. Wish me luck on that!

What can you tell us about your transition
from stage to screen?

Donít
believe the hype. Thatís what I can tell you. Actor/Author after
Actor/Author will bombard you with all this malarkey about how itís a
different medium. Well, yes, itís a different medium, but itís the
same performance. Ultimately a theatre performance has to be natural and
organically motivated or it comes off as false. Thatís true for film
acting as well. If you look at an actor like Jim Carrey who does film like
heís doing theater in the round Ė it still works. Because itís Jim
playing Jim.

So
thatís my rant about the silliness of differentiating acting style for
theatre vs film.

I
will continue to do both as long as my schedule allows it. Although
filming out of town makes doing theatre impossible.

Would you like to talk about a few films
from your past (I have rather randomly picked I have to admit)? What about
Delivery?

What???
Delivery is one of my finest films! Written, shot, directed (and who knows
what else) by the amazingly talented Jose Cassella. It stars Matt Nelson,
who was obviously channeling Meryl Streep. I was lucky enough to play
opposite Matt as the love interest and catalyst for mass slaughtering.

We
shot in Orlando over the summer of 2006 on weekends. I was told (but I
donít believe it), that they read over 1,000 girls for the role of Bibi.
I think I was 1001. Evidently they were so sick of casting that they
settled on me. And the rest is movie history.

The
film was picked up by Warner Brothers Home Video and has world wide
distribution via Cinema Vault.

Could you talk about Genius for a bit?

WowÖ
you are something! Genius isnít even on IMDb!

Ok...
Genius was one of those films that re-affirmed my will to be an actor. The
title role was between me and a famous Playboy model, and somehow it went
to me (Iíll bet he regrets that now!).

I
play a world famous opera singer, who travels the world searching for
meaning. The film takes place during a 3 day stint where my character
returns home and revels in her insanity, and sings Opera from time to
time. I had to learn German, Italian and French for the role, and did my
final aria in one take.

Having
said that Ė it is an INDIE film and it looks like one. So if youíre
adventurous enough to watch it, youíll have to forgive some sound
issues, some lighting discrepancies, the occasional actor looking at the
cameraÖ sighÖ for the love of the art.

Itís
about female space pirates escaping from the prison colony Novella,
teaming up and taking over the world(s). Sigh. If only we had a showrunner.

Any other past films
of yours you would like to talk about?

I
think Iíve reached my limit on how much I can babble about myself and my
work! Canít we talk about you for a moment? How did you become such an
awesome interviewer? How many languages do you speak?
How long does it take you to research people like me to come up with these
great and fun questions?

So far, a good portion
of your film roles have been in the horror genre. Is this just a
coincidence or is horror a genre dear to you?

Yes
it is! No other genre can you go ALL out. I think what some people donít
realize is that horror encompasses many genres, discreetly. You can have a
love story in a horror, because shared trauma brings people closer. You
can have tons of action in horror Ė because good horror is a call to
action for the hero(s). You can have comedy in horror Ė in fact you
should. Because humans need the roller coaster of release of laughing,
crying, terror. Itís all part of the package. As a horror actress not
only can I be the lead and people will still watch, I can dabble in every
genre, if only for a moment, and flex my range.

Women in horror
films are almost automatically labelled as scream queens. Does this label
at all bother you?

No,
I love it. I happen to be re-defining it, but I love it just the same. In
the past Scream Queen meant the girl that screamed and died, or sometimes
screamed and lived. I tend to play characters that make you scream
J

Besides acting, you do also a bit of
stunting, right? Could you talk about that aspect of your career?

Oh
you know, a sword fight here, a knife fight there. Really itís all part
of the job. I got to do my first stunts on Delivery, and never wanted to
stop. I started training, brushed up on martial arts which Iíve always
been interested in, and of course studied sword fighting under a real
sword master. Recently I just did a 15 foot high fall out of a tree for
Red Reaper (and bounced off the matt Ė and the actor, Cal Simmons,
playing Kreios, caught me JUST before I hit the ground). In the real world
of stunts, itís nothing, but I am terrified of heights. Less so now, I
suppose. Combat is really my forte. Iím not much for being set on fire
or falling.

Plus,
you are a wrestler. What can you tell us about your wrestling career?

I
do live shows from time to time. My mud wrestling team, the American
Knockers spent part of the summer doing live shows in Hawaii. I canít
wait to go back!

Itís
hard work, and takes a lot of athleticism. Especially when youíre doing
2-3 shows a day. I train often and itís fun J

On
top of all that, you are a humanitarian, campaigning first and foremost
against child abuse I believe. Please elaborate on this?

Child
abuse is wrong. I think we can all agree on that. People in general turn a
blind eye to what we consider minor abuses. Yelling, slapping children (in
public no less), inappropriate touching. These kids not only suffer these
abuses, but grow up thinking that itís ok, that they deserve it and that
itís normal. These intellectual fallacies discolor their romantic
relationships, friendships, their overall ability to relate to other
people in a healthy way. Itís a scary, and vicious cycle that
perpetuates generation after generation. Children are wired to accept
their situations. As adults itís too much for the ďaverageĒ person
to question. This is the real horror of our society, and the state of the
world.

I
think itís redundant to get into the more dramatic child abuses. Incest,
rape, physical abuse Ė the psychological effects are devastating. I
cofounded a peer counseling group when I was 12 that only dealt with these
issues, and I can tell you that most of children I had the opportunity of
working with are either dead, in jail, unable to function in regular
society, or on drugs. The cream of the crop are workaholics who put
enormous pressure on themselves and their families to be ultra successful
Ė as if current success can erase past trauma.

And
there I go being redundant.

But
hereís my point. The world is going to hell in a handbasket for REAL if
we donít do something. It IS your business. Step in. That little kid
that you just ignored while his undereducated mother slapped him? That
little kid is going to mug you in 10 years. That little girl next door
being abused by daddy and you thought it was none of your business? That
little girl will be the catalyst for the end of your marriage. All
children need to be protected. By everyone.